Call it the late-May doldrums of the baseball season, as we're a little past the quarter-mark of the season and the character of our fantasy teams no longer seem to change on a weekly basis.

Thank Vishnu for the NFL's offseason training activities.

Those minor happenings seem bigger around these parts, after all we get to watch Tom Brady toss the pigskin around, but they are further amplified this season because of who he is throwing the ball to, and who he isn't.

Wes Welker became the safest of safety valves with the Patriots, racking up a number of receptions that have given him three of the top 10 season totals in NFL history, including 118 last season, which comes in at No. 10. Now, we may never know all the behind-the-scenes machinations that went on in “The Bold and The Hooded” episode that led to it, but Welker is gone and will be catching passes from Peyton Manning in Denver.

I suppose that is what the business world calls a lateral move for Welker. It is difficult to see his fantasy stock taking much of a hit as he moves to another QB in the greatest-ever discussion.

It is more difficult to determine what this means in New England. The Patriots immediately plugged the Welker void by signing former Ram Danny Amendola, who now is a prisoner of that timing and has to live up to the expectation of being the next Welker.

At the risk of looking like a gray cloud settling over Foxboro, it doesn't seem that Amendola's numbers say he is destined for greatness. At the same time, however, Welker's did not either before he came to New England (see chart).

Amendola does, however, have the advantage of going from catching passes from Sam Bradford to having Brady as his captain. That is what the business world calls an OMG proposition.

Hey, texting is a business.

So Amendola's assurgency could happen, and I would not be shocked if it did, but neither would anyone else in your local fantasy league. That means you should let someone else overpay for him and bask in the “he's gonna be great” accolades that are sure to come from everyone else. I'll still always go with a proven thing, you know, someone like Welker.

Sticking with the wide receiver talk, it is never too early to look for next season's sleeper and an early frontrunner is Giants receiver Rueben Randle.

The New York receiver corps is muddled with Victor Cruz not yet being signed, (deservedly) believing that he is worthy of a pay increase. His agent is in talks with the team, but if someone isn't yet reporting to team activities and hasn't been told not to show up, aren't they always in talks?

Apparently not, since then there is Hakeem Nicks, who is coming back from knee surgery, apparently recovered from it, but still did not report to team's OTA workouts. He is in the last year of his contract and apparently also wants to discuss money with the team, but it seems you need to let the team know this if you want to make any progress.

That leaves Randle as the potential beneficiary of others' contractual strife and he looks like the type of player who may just need opportunity to shine. In his rookie year last season he played in all 16 games, but only caught 19 balls. He did take them for three touchdowns and averaged 15.7 yards per catch, however, so a breakout seems plausible.

Just when I thought it was over, it turns out I still may have to think about Tim Tebow.

On the football field that is, we all know he is dreamy enough to demand strict attention at other times no matter what.

Cut by the Jets, and subsequently shunned by the rest of the NFL, Tebow appeared destined for the cold tundra air of Canada or the stale recycled air of Arena Football before he got the greatest backer one could ever desire — Chuck Norris.

On Newsbusters.com (“Exposing & Combating Liberal Media Bias,” because that's what is keeping Tebow down), Norris labeled the former Broncos and Jets quarterback as his favorite UCP, ultimate clutch player.

Norris asks, “What sportsman ever could forget how that amazing second-year QB came back from a 15-0 disadvantage to the Miami Dolphins to lead the Broncos to an 18-15 overtime victory and then led Denver to six wins in its next seven games and into the playoffs, beating the highly favored Pittsburgh Steelers in a wild-card game?”

I answer, all of us. It wasn't that special.

It is instead a blessing that this QB with minimal on-the-field skills that somehow translate to top-tier fantasy points is being taken out of any preseason calculus fantasy owners are undertaking.